Communication Strategies for Enhancing Production and Consumption of African Indigenous Vegetables: The case of Farm Concern International in Kenya.
The study analyses the efficiency of communication strategies used by Farm Concern International (FCI) in enhancing the production and consumption of African Indigenous Vegetables in Lari Sub-County, Kenya. The study used both quantitative and qualitative research designs and used purposive sampling, followed by random sampling to select 100 farmers from the five villages in Lari Sub County. The data was gathered from the primary sources through the use of structured questionnaire for both quantitative and qualitative. The data was then processed and presented by the use of graphs, tables and pie charts and analysed by use of descriptive analysis. The study used two theories, Rational Argumentation Theory propounded by Cragan and Shields (1998) and Trans theoretical Model (TM) by Prochaska, Johnson and Lee (1998). The study established that the rate of AIVs production has increased since the implementation of DoHoMa Project. The rate of consumption has also increased with the majority of farmers eating AIVs on a daily basis due to their higher nutritional value. Only a few who consumed the value chain three to six times a week. The findings also indicated that FCI majorly used two forms of Ora-Media, barazas and demonstrations, to promote production, consumption and commercialisation of AIVs. The study recommends that agriculture-based NGOs need to use more of demonstrations than barazas because most of the farmers have basic education. The Ministry of Agriculture needs to facilitate farmers to dig boreholes for enhancing irrigation during dry spells.